Iowa calls itself “a place to grow” and this week there’s an effort to raise awareness about the importance of agriculture to the Iowa economy and the Iowa way of life. Aaron Putze, a spokesman for the Iowa Farm Bureau which is celebrating National Ag Week, says nearly 13 percent of Iowa’s workforce has a job in or because of production agriculture and when ag-related fields are considered, it’s more like 23-percent. Putze says there are 290-million mouths to feed in the U-S and six-billion worldwide, numbers that are continuing to multiply. He says farmers lead and feed the world in keeping humans -and- machines running. In addition to producing the food, farmers are producing energy through ethanol, biodiesel and wind power which the nation needs, reducing the U-S reliance on foreign oil. Putze says corn-based ethanol fuel is now reducing the need to import 128-thousand barrels of oil every day.
